HAPPY 12TH BIRTHDAY TO SAVAGE CINEMA!!!

 

Thank you, everyone! Honestly, graciously, thank you!!! 

It was 12 years ago on this date, as I was visiting my parents on a holiday visit, when Savage Cinema was born. I was sitting in their basement at their computer feeling absolutely terrified to hit the "PUBLISH" button for the very first time, wondering if this pursuit would be worth the trouble, if anyone would care, or even if I would let myself down in some way, because really, the world does not need even one more person to pine about the movies and there way no way I could ever reach the levels to which I aspired, which were my heroes, the late, great Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert.

I am a person who can talk myself out of anything and everything if given the room to just overthink and convince myself that my dreams are not worth following. This is a long standing issue with me and my brain and and hitting that "PUBLISH" button...as I think of those moments, I am just sadly sigh because I am imagining what I would have lost had my brain convinced me. I remember just sitting there, mentally at war with myself, telling myself that I could not accomplish this feat so, why even try? No one will care at all, so why even try? Who cares what I think, so why even try? And so on...

Somehow, some way and I really do not know how, I did indeed hit "PUBLISH" that very first time and that first time has led me to this moment in time after which 12 years of work has been written and still exists in its entirety right here upon this blogsite. T his is entirely where YOU come in because if none of YOU out there ever read, responded, and encouraged me to write another posting, Savage Cinema would have ended long before it ever had the chance to get started. My appreciation for YOU is endless for without YOU, I could not have encouraged myself to just keep going.  

I am not one to really take time to celebrate my own accomplishments. Partially because I just keep moving onto the next task and partially because my brain just continuously tries to downplay said accomplishments all the while telling me that there is always someone better. My brain is so often not very nice to me. 

And still, my brain is very patient, and therefore, encouraging because somewhere inside, something keeps telling me to just try again. This has been most evident over these last two years as COVID has so drastically disrupted the movie industry and therefore, my writing and even further, my motivation to even try as life and mental/emotional fatigue have overshadowed inspiration. 

Lately, I have found myself venturing out to the movies more frequently and in this past week, I have written three new pieces and a fourth is being composed as well. Now, even though there has been a new flurry of activity, I am not going to get ahead of myself and firmly announce that everything is back on track. I need to allow myself to think of this as a continuing work in progress...and really, that IS what Savage Cinema is as it is a representation of...ME. 

Thank YOU all for being there. For being positive and always sticking firm to the mission of this blogsite to keep Savage Cinema a place of positivity as the internet and social media have grown even darker over these last 12 years. Thank YOU all for just taking the time to read anything that I have written, especially as we are all inundated with all manner of this and that vying for our attention. 

Thank YOU all for just believing in me because it all helps me to believe in myself.

And now...onto the next one...

FAULTY UPGRADE: a review of "The Matrix: Resurrections"

 

"THE MATRIX: RESURRECTIONS"
Based upon characters and situations created by The Wachowskis
Screenplay Written by Lana Wachowski & David Mitchell & Aleksandar Hemon 
Directed by Lana Wachowski
** (two stars)
RATED R

Maybe I should not have taken the red pill this time...

In this current age of sequels, prequels, reboots, reimaginings and so on, I suppose it was only a matter of time before audiences were given an opportunity to return to The Matrix, and as with most of the retreads that are flowing in our direction, I was housed with a mixture of fatigue and curiosity. As envisioned by the Wachowskis, the bracing, game changing "The Matrix" (1999) and its two sequels "The Matrix: Reloaded" (2003) and "The Matrix: Revolutions" (2003), weaved a heady plot about humanity enslaved by machines within a virtual reality system while in reality being utilized as a power source and the band of freedom fighters, led by a potential messiah figure named Neo, determine to defeat the machines and reclaim our humanity. 

It was psychedelic cyperpunk merged with classic mythology, anime, philosophy, religion and spirituality, S&M fetishes, martial arts, machine gun ultraviolence, and even a love story all filtered through deliriously staged action and fight sequences plus bar raising special effects. Much like the first film's main character as portrayed by Keanu Reeves, we were all jet propelled into a wildly terrifying new cinematic universe that served as a warning about our reliance and continuous immersion into technology at the expense of our human interconnectivity. While it is easy to say that we did not necessarily need a new installment, especially after the series felt to reach a natural (if slightly open ended) conclusion, there is something to be said about how the Wachowskis' story could be revisited, especially as we witness how our societal relationship to technology has deepened profoundly in the 18 years since the third film. 

While it has its moments as well as a promising beginning third or so, Lana Wachowski's "The Matrix:  Resurrections," the fourth chapter in the series feels more like an addendum at best and an anti-climactic afterthought at worst. It is not a bad film but it is also not a particularly good one either as it contains quite a number of good ideas which never feel as thoroughly conceptualized as the previous three installments. And for a series that has always prided itself on attempting to wield a white knuckle approach to the proceedings, this new film feels more than a little sleepy by comparison with action sequences that just do not pop and a visual presentation, while glowing with color, feels more than a little artificial, making it at times difficult to buy the fantasy. That being said, at least "The Matrix: Resurrections" feels like an honest film and not a cynical cash grab. Even so, maybe I needed to just take the blue pill and I can have the original trilogy untainted by this lackluster effort.

Picking up six decades after the events of the trilogy, which found Neo (Keanu Reeves) sacrificing  himself to essentially forge a peace treaty between humans and machines, Lana Wachowski's "The Matrix: Resurrections" finds Neo as his original alter ego Thomas Anderson as the developer of a successful video game company basking in the success of a trilogy of games entitled "The Matrix," based upon Anderson's dreams or in actuality, his faint memories. Struggling with his sanity, Thomas Anderson habitually seeks the counsel of his therapist (Neil Patrick Harris) who keeps Anderson under the haze of a steady stream of blue pills, although Anderson desperately wished for answers to the source of his fragmented dreams.   

Meanwhile, and just as before, all is not what it seems as a new generation of freedom fighters from the Matrix, as led by Bugs (Jessica Henwick) and a new version of Morpheus (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II), are on the hunt for the believed to be alive Neo as well as Trinity (Carrie-Anne Moss), who perished at the end of the Machine War but miraculously exists as Tiffany, the motorcycle riding married Mother of three children in San Francisco. 

Once the rebels locate Anderson and he accepts the red pill, once again opening his mind to the realities of the Matrix, its evolution and newfound dangers, including a revamped Agent Smith (Jonathan Groff), the resurrected Neo re-emerges to discern reality from illusion and potentially save Trinity as he submerges himself deep within the Matrix all over again.         

Lana Wachowski's "The Matrix: Resurrections" is earnest, affectionate, well intentioned and seemingly heartfelt as there does not feel to be anything remotely mercenary about this venture as it reaches its fourth chapter. In a way, it feels almost lighter in tone than the previous three films. More playful, less urgent and definitely, self-reflexive in a way the original trilogy was not, giving this fourth installment a new level to explore, especially regarding the nature of sequels. 

Throughout the film, we are given snatches of moments and sequences from the original trilogy as played out as flashes of Thomas Anderson's dreams/memories/flashbacks sometimes playing right alongside the new material, each side commenting upon the other. At times, the technique works well as it allows Wachowski to update us upon characters and events from the first films while circumventing lazy fan service based nostalgia by weaving everything directly intro the narrative as machine based deja vu, which is itself a clever jab at the current Hollywood based machine made culture surrounding the preponderance of recycled material at the expense of anything original. Other times, the technique fails as it does nothing else but to remind us about how much better the first films actually were, including the severe lack of having Laurence Fishburne as Morpheus this time around (which is not a slight upon Yahya Abdul-Mateen II's efforts but honestly, he is no Fishburne). 

By now, the pop cultural narrative remains that "The Matrix" is brilliant while the two immediately subsequent films fall far short, a viewpoint I whole heartedly disagree with as all three wove a complete narrative in the three distinct phases of birth-life-death, were consistently innovative (even if exhausting by the third film) and with action sequences that remain some of the best I have ever seen--the freeway sequence in the second film for my money is in the exact same league as the truck chase in Steven Spielberg's "Raiders Of The Lost Ark" (1981) or the apocalyptic white line nightmares of George Miller's "The Road Warrior" (1981) and "Mad Max: Fury Road" (2015).  

With a bar set so highly, and three times over, no less, anything that doesn't reach a similar height is more than noticeable. The action sequences that made our mouths drop to the ground over and over again are nowhere to be found this time around. The fights all feel like retreads and they way they are all filmed feel shoddy and choppy as opposed to the narrative and visual elegance of the original films. In fact, here's something to chew upon: the downright explosive and dazzling, flat out insane fights of Keanu Reeves' own "John Wick" (2014/2017/2019) series far eclipse anything that can be seen in "The Matrix: Resurrections" and if the original pre-pandemic plans had come to pass--where the upcoming "John Wick 4" and this new "Matrix" would have been released upon the same day--Wick would eat Neo for breakfast without breaking a sweat.

Also, as visually striking as the original films were and remain, there was a gritty, film noir atmosphere which for "The Matrix: Resurrections" has been replaced with a glorious sheen where colors practically dance on the screen yet everything, including the special effects, feel air brushed within an inch of its life, making the presentation look shockingly cheap at times. Perhaps, this aesthetic was purposeful, in order to give Lana Wachowski the benefit of the doubt as well as considering the self-reflexive (yet increasingly muddled) nature of the narrative. Maybe she is offering another commentary upon the nature of sequels as they typically grow brighter but emptier as more installment arrive? I don't know. But, I do know that I felt less immersed and more aware of the overall artifice which kept me from embracing as I had done three times over in the past.

All of that being said, there were elements I enjoyed including the very warm presence of Jessica Henwick as Bugs, the audience surrogate this time around. But most importantly, the love story between Neo and Trinity as portrayed by Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss, still possesses a certain pull as the two re-ignite their considerable chemistry with ease and newfound layers of loss, tenderness and melancholy which at least, gives the film an emotional level to cling to. 

Even better is Keanu Reeves himself, who strikes some considerably stirring notes as Thomas Anderson rather than Neo. The earlier sequences in the film, with Anderson downing one blue pill after another, hands shaking in his therapist's office, or silently crying while sitting in his bathtub struck me purely and made me wonder if possibly the film was working as an allegory for surviving depression and trauma, because frankly, this character has undergone considerable trauma and then some, making the blurred lines of reality and delusion more precarious. If only Wachowski had followed this thread with a greater commitment, we would have had a greater emotional anchor to rely upon and give some gravity to a film that unfortunately grows increasingly goofy the longer it plays. 

That is the general nature of a sequel, isn't it. Something that just doesn't live up to what has come before. In fact, it is all in the film itself as just like Neo, who wants to take flight again, Lana Wachowski's "The Matrix: Resurrections" cannot get off the ground.

DEAF EARS: a review of "Don't Look Up"

 

"DON'T LOOK UP"
Story by Adam McKay & David Sirota
Screenplay Written and Directed by Adam McKay
***1/2 (three and a half stars)
RATED R

"The dark is far as eyes can see
It's raining ashes
We've reached the end of history
Here come the ashes

It's raining ashes
Falling on deaf ears..."
-"Deaf Ears"
music and lyrics by Todd Rundgren, Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross

Does the sting of satire lose its venom when simultaneously living through the reality the art is satirizing? Is there a point when the satire is just too close to mirror and therefore mine for humor?

Please just take a moment and think about where we are as a society at this point in the 21st century, regarding race relations and equity, regarding economic disparity, regarding voting rights and our rapidly disappearing democracy, rampant sexism and the rapidly disappearing right for any Woman to choose for herself what she would or would not do regarding her own body, and for that matter, the death of nuance and perspective in the process of critical thinking in favor of the exclusivity of binary so-called choices and the polarization of truth, facts and reality itself. 

Now, let's add into that cauldron the gun violence epidemic, climate change and our on-going global pandemic which has already taken the lives of over 800,000 Americans and still, there are those who refuse to think beyond themselves and wear a mask, get a vaccine, or just acknowledge (again) the dire reality in which we are all co-existing in favor of some individualized frontier fantasy, all of the while howling about "FREEDOM!!"  

The feelings that I have regarding this societal spiritual decay, this lack of understanding towards the clear interconnectivity of all living things on this ONE planet of ours range from despair to fury, especially when so much of what I see is apathy. 

And so, here we are with "Don't Look Up," Writer/Director Adam McKay's satire of global extinction being regarded with indifference and my reaction was slightly peculiar. It is a strong film. McKay has delivered an impassioned plea, one that is resoundingly depressing to experience. I rarely laughed or even found much humor in material to which I can easily point to the very real thing on every single news broadcast and channel in the real world. Still, I cannot understate how effective of a film it actually is and perhaps it is the finest film of his more socio-political driven material, worlds away from the loony yet messy "Anchorman: The Legend Of Run Burgundy" (2004), "Talladega Night: The Ballad Of Rocky Bobby" (2006), "Step Brothers" (2008) and "The Other Guys" (2010). Adam McKay's "Don't Look Up" certainly has much to say or for that matter, even scream about. But when we are screaming along with it, and to each other, is there still purpose?

"Don't Look Up" stars Jennifer Lawrence as Kate Dibiasky, a Michigan State University grad student in Astronomy, who discovers a previously unidentified object approaching Earth. She and her Professor, Dr. Randall Mindy (Leonardo DiCaprio) soon determine the object is a comet ("Larger than the size of the asteroid that killed the dinosaurs!!" Kate exclaims at one point), and is on a direct collision course with Earth, causing a complete extinction event in six months. 

After joining forces with Planetary Defense Coordination Office head Dr. Teddy Oglethorpe (Rob Morgan), the three Scientists soon attain the ear of President Janie Orlean (Meryl Streep) and her son, Chief of Staff Jason Orlean (Jonah Hill), who each in reaction to the cataclysmic news is a shrug filled response that the United States government will not spring into action to save humanity (since what good will it do for the President with the upcoming midterm elections since she's got it in the bag anyway?) but will "sit tight and assess."

Dismayed by the apathy but undaunted with the need to reveal the truth to the world, Dr. Oglethorpe suggests that they each leak their findings to news outlets. Dr. Mindy and Kate undertake a media tour, most notably leading them to the vapid morning show juggernaut "The Daily Rip," hosted by the inane Brie Evantee (Cate Blanchett) and Jack Bremmer (Tyler Perry), a program whose leading story, such as it is, is not the oncoming comet but the break up of pop star Riley Bina (Ariana Grande) and her cheating boyfriend DJ Chello (Scott Mescudi). While on the program, the severity of the news being met with one innocuous joke after another, Kate unleashes her fury and terror and immediately becomes a target for mockery on live television and internet memes...while the anxiety ridden yet comparatively more composed Dr. Mindy becomes a media darling...and the object of Brie Evantee's lusty desires, leading to an affair.

As a surprise sex scandal threatens to upend President Orlean's midterm hopes, the White House agenda just as suddenly shifts its focus to destroying the comet, of course as a means of distraction, via a Michael Bay a la "Armageddon" (1998) styled plan of sending a racist mercenary (i.e. "war hero") into space to blow up the comet before it hits Earth. But...what if...we abandon that mission and let that comet hit the Earth, so the United  States could mine the comet's remains for rare minerals, thus promising more riches for the richest and giving those at the bottom of the economic ladder hope for those "comet paying jobs"?   

And as Dr. Mindy and Kate continue to announce their findings and warnings, the world, by comparison is caught in the net of whims as dictated by political top donors, including Peter Isherwell (Mark Rylance), a billionaire tech guru and the politicized denial that the comet even exists. 

But...the comet is coming, time is running out, and...meh.

So often when I think of satire, I suppose that I envision something, that even if the material is in close proximity to the object it is satirizing, there is an aspect that feels askew, that "through the looking glass approach" that makes the proceedings feel like a funhouse mirror of absurdity while the humor bares its teeth. Certainly, Stanley Kubrick's "Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love The Bomb" (1964) remains the dark hearted pinnacle yet more recent examples, including Oliver Stone's "Natural Born Killers" (1994), Writer/Producer/Actor John Cusack and Director Joshua Seftel's "War, Inc" (2008), Spike Lee's "Chi-Raq" (2015) and especially Mike Judge's "Idiocracy" (2006) are all rapacious with the targets of their ire while each feeling not quite of this Earth. 

By contrast, Adam McKay's "Don't Look Up" feels more like a documentary and in doing so, is a deeply frustrating experience. Now, this is not the fault of McKay or a commentary of how successful he is or isn't regarding his satirical brand. This is an extremely well made film, filled with intent, purpose, creativity and passion. I am, however, describing how the film made me feel ultimately, and I honestly did not find much of it to being terribly "funny." 

Yes, this is absurdist comedy but this film felt more like nightmare comedy, where no one is subscribing to the doom laden reality that you are seeing and there is nothing you can do about it. And we are seeing this film as we are all existing through a very real and exceedingly unfunny nightmare. If the situation in the film played out in reality, we know that what transpires would essentially occur in real life...and we know this because it is happening as we speak, regarding climate change, regarding impending fascism, regarding the pandemic.  

Both Leonardo DiCaprio and crucially Jennifer Lawrence (the sexism her character endures from end to end of this film is rightfully infuriating) are each terrific in their roles, showcasing their trademark sense of commitment and intensity, for they are indeed any of us looking at the world in which we live in reality and are standing in horror every day at the indifference and the inhumanity we are inflicting upon ourselves.

In defense of the film, much of the criticism launched against it has been exceedingly harsh. Some have proclaimed it heavy handed but honestly, when we have lived through a year of COVID-19 under the leadership of a President who lied, denied and even instructed the public to literally drink bleach, while a complacent political party and news outlets signed on, this is not a time for subtlety. When we live in a time when radicalized domestic terrorists try to storm our nation's Capitol to overturn a legal and fair Presidential election and political figures attempt to reframe that day as being nothing more then akin to tourists having a picnic, this is not a time for subtlety. When Science, logic, reason, reality and empirical facts are waved away in favor of "alternative facts," this is not a time for subtlety. 

Adam McKay's anger is righteous, raw and real and while "Don't Look Up" makes it very easy for us to connect the dots between the fictional characters and their real world counterparts, there is an aspect where I wondered just who is this film for? 

Another criticism I  have seen lobbied against this film is that is a smug experience, where Adam McKay has enlisted his famous friends for a diatribe designed to exclaim how smart he is and how  dumb everyone else is. Well...I can see how some might come to that conclusion yet again, I do feel that "Don't Look Up" is a more earnestly delivered film from McKay than "The Big Short" (2015), which I felt to be overrated and a bit too in love with its own cleverness. 

Even so, with our culture as polarized as it is, where people are unwilling to listen to anything outside of their own viewpoints, why would anyone who feels that Hollywood is filled with elitists who are out of touch with reality even see this film at all? Perhaps these are the very people who would benefit this experience most, for maybe a pseudo-fictional narrative would be a great conduit to explore our real world. As it stands, the people who would choose to see it are most likely those who already agree with McKay and so, are we all just spitting into the wind?

Still, Adam McKay's "Don't Look Up" possesses a power and hold that does eat at you and it feels as if it was conceived to shake us out of our collective doldrums. But, do we even wish to wake up?

THREE IS THE MAGIC NUMBER: a review of "Spider-Man: No Way Home"

"SPIDER-MAN: NO WAY HOME"
Based upon the Marvel Comics character created by Stan Lee & Steve Ditko
Screenplay Written by Chris McKenna & Erik Sommers
Directed by Jon Watts
**** (four stars)
RATED PG 13

"THAT'S how you make the movie!!!! THAT'S how you make the movie!! You do it like THAT!!!"

I practically shouted those words at full volume in the movie theater at the conclusion of Sam Raimi's "Spider-Man 2" (2004), a wondrous, dazzling experience richly filled with genuine excitement, pathos, and heart pounding romance, making it simultaneously a rarity in the comic book film genre while raising the bar for the genre as a whole. What Raimi achieved for my sense and sensibilities, was a film that harkened back to the quality of the big budget escapist films I grew up with during the late 1970's and the 1980's, when at their finest the stories were first and foremost, filtered through a collective of actors committed enough to make the most fantastical live and breathe purely and, most  importantly, the special effects were a tool and decidedly not the engine for the enterprise. Raimi's "Spider-Man 2" was up to the minute in 2004 yet it almost felt like a throwback due to its utter lack of cynicism or any potential mercenary qualities of the type when you just know the filmmakers are treating you the viewer as product and not deserving of sharp, smartly executed entertainment. 

Sam Raimi's film was a jewel during a period when superhero/comic book movies were not omnipresent and the ones that did arrive were usually not terribly good. Flash forward seventeen years to the present where superhero/comic book movies are omnipresent, the film industry, at last, having devised as to how these types of films can be made. Whether so many of these types of should be made with such breakneck frequency, especially at the expense of nearly any other types of movies that could be made, is an entirely different subject. But if you have been frequent visitors to this blogsite over the past decade, you will already know and understand my own sense of superhero fatigue. 

With regards to our friendly neighborhood Spider-Man, all of the sequels and reboots have almost exhausted me, yet none, save for Sam Raimi's overstuffed, chaotic mess that was "Spider-Man 3" (2007), have disappointed me. Surprisingly, just as I was about to throw up my hands with the notion of another Spider-Man anything, the character, as so winningly portrayed by Tom Holland, has been my absolute favorite incarnation of the character since he officially joined the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). Yes, for all of this time and even with the terrific heights scaled in Jon Watts' "Spider-Man:  Homecoming" (2017) and "Spider-Man: Far From Home" (2019), Sam Raimi's "Spider-Man 2" was the gold standard.

Until now.

Jon Watts' "Spider-Man: No Way Home," the third solo entry in our hero's MCU adventures and 27th film in the ever expanding MCU overall, is superlative, spectacular, sensational entertainment. Grabbing the brass ring as previously attained by Ryan Coogler's "Black Panther" (2018) and Anthony and Joe Russo's "Avengers: Infinity War" (2018) and "Avengers: Endgame" (2019), the film is overflowing with storytelling invention and ingenuity, fueled by a narrative that honors fan driven nostalgia with dignity while also pushing our character into deeply uncharted territory, as foretold by the film's own title. Kaleidoscopic in scope yet never losing sight of the heart, soul and core of the characters, Jon Watts delivered a work that is downright sparkling for certain but most importantly, one that carries a profoundly effective emotional weight and resonance. As previously stated, for me, out of all of the Spider-Man cinematic adventures, for so many years, Sam Raimi's "Spider-Man 2" was the very best. Jon Watts' outstanding "Spider-Man: No Way Home" is even better.

Opening at the precise cliffhanger moment which concluded the previous installment, Jon Watts' "Spider-Man: No Way Home" finds Peter Parker (Tom Holland) reeling from the shock that not only has his secret identity as Spider-Man been revealed to the world but he has also been framed for the death of Quentin Beck a.k.a. Mysterio (Jake Gyllenhaal) with blowhard...ahem..."newsman" J. Jonah Jameson (J.K. Simmons) loudly calling for his head.

Now shouldered with the now constant invasive and unwanted attention which threatens to continuously upend his life, including his hoped for acceptance into M.I.T. alongside his best friend Ned Stacy (Jacob Batalan) and new girlfriend MJ Jones-Watson (Zendaya), Peter Parker pays a visit to his neighborhood superhero colleague Dr. Stephen Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) with a request: devise a magic spell in which the world can forget he is Spider-Man. But, wait...except for Ned...but uh..wait again... except for MJ...and what about Aunt May (Marisa Tomei)?       

The fallout from this request and the interference into a dangerous magic spell, opens a rift within the Multiverse, making for an adventure even more fraught with dire consequences of the intimate and epic, threatening to leave Peter Parker in a world forever changed once more.  

In the history of this blogsite, never have I revealed spoilers and I will continue that promise at this time, even though--and even after the film has existed in the world for only one week, at that--essentially ALL of the secrets have been released through a variety of sources including the folks at Marvel Studios. Regardless, I will not pretend that everyone interested in seeing the film has seen it just yet and I will do my very best to speak about my reaction without ruining any surprises. 

What I can announce initially is that from its opening moments, Jon Watts' "Spider-Man: No Way Home" immediately takes flight. It had me firmly from the moment Spider-Man and MJ soared through the New York skyline with Talking Heads' propulsive "I Zimbra" pushing them along valiantly and the experience built upwards from that point, never letting up for a moment. As we have come to expect from a Marvel film, Watts has delivered a ravishing looking production, crisply written, directed and performed by the entire cast top to bottom.

Shifting to the cinematic universe populated by the characters and situations of DC Comics for a moment, earlier this year, I undertook the experience of watching "Zack Snyder's Justice League," the four hour Director's Cut of the original 2017 theatrical version as completed by Director Joss Whedon, and direct sequel to Snyder's "Man Of Steel" (2013) and "Batman v Superman: Dawn Of Justice" (2016). It too was a resplendent production but as with Snyder's earlier entries, it was also a bombastic, bludgeoning one. An experience that was humorless, joyless and so pretentiously in love with its own magnanimous scope. Certainly, it was clear that Snyder definitely created exactly what he wanted to make and I cannot fault him at all for following his artistic vision. That being said, and despite some good sequences and performances, it again showcased everything wrong with comic book movies and definitely confirmed Martin Scorsese's commentary that movies of this sort aren't even movies but theme park rides.  

Unlike that film, where every solution to a problem involves endless pummeling, carnage and destruction with a complete lack of consequence, I praise the Marvel films for their commitment to  always strive to find the underlying humanity of their stories and characters. I understand that Zack Snyder is purposefully attempting to realize a certain Wagnerian spirit to the proceedings, treating these characters as modern version of the Greek and Norse myths. But a little of that goes a long way yet Snyder never seems to know when enough is enough and by the end, I simply do not care a whit about what happens to anyone.  

For all of the impossible otherworldly content, consequences and humanity sit at the heart and soul of every single Marvel film, so much so that we connect not to the superhero incarnation but to their overall humanity. That is why we think of Tony Stark rather than Iron Man or Steve Rogers rather than Captain America and so on. Additionally, I have thoroughly enjoyed how events these characters experience only continue to reverberate from film to film. Nothing is forgotten or waved away, ad i doing so, the characters only continue to develop over time ensuring nothing remains emotionally static. 

As far as I am concerned, Marvel has unveiled one tremendously successful year of new content that has expanded the post Thanos world of the MCU with purpose and the very humanity that has endeared audiences to these movies so passionately. With Matt Shakman's "WandaVision," Kari Skogland's "The Falcon and the Winter Soldier," Kate Herron's "Loki" and Rhys Thomas and Bert & Bertie's "Hawkeye" for television and Destin Daniel Cretton's "Shang-Chi and the Legend Of The Ten Rings" for movie theaters, we are given the socio political, economic and even cosmic consequences of a universe readjusting to life and living post Thanos. We are also given the first shock waves of the splintering Multiverse and the fabric of time itself. But what pulsates most vibrantly is the human conflict as our characters struggle with grief and mourning, family conflicts, racial politics, deep regret and whether one is worthy of redemption regardless of how deeply one wishes for it, and finally, what is it that makes a hero and it is ever possible to live up to those qualities.

With Jon Watts' "Spider-Man: No Way Home," nearly all of those qualities are explored and examined with urgency and honesty. Yes, Watts continues to utilize his screwball comedy styled light touch but he has also raised the conceptual stakes for all of the characters as well as his own bar cinematically. It would certainly have been easy enough to give Spider-Man a new solo adventure that crackled and popped and be done with it. But, wisely Watts understands that in order for us to care, for us to want to take another ride that was worthwhile, simply being entertaining would not be enough. Watts accomplishes this feat due to the plot which does indeed include the Multiverse to a more explicit degree than seen before, yet that plot point is then utilized to plunge even deeper into the humanity of Peter Parker, his family, friends and even his enemies.  

With his triumvirate of Peter, Ned and MJ, which always felt to echo John Hughes' trio of Ferris Bueller, Cameron Frye and Sloan Peterson, Watts has now deepened their bond with great emotion, this time echoing something much closer to J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger on the hunt for Horcruxes as their circumstances have grown that much more dire, making their friendship and reliance upon each other more crucial. Aunt May is allowed to display previously unseen and deeper layers to convey a stirring moral fiber to great poignancy. And while I will neither confirm or deny the appearances of a collective of characters rumored to arrive within the film, I will say that everything that could have been simply been delivered as empty fan service, again has been superbly conceived, written and performed, ensuring that every character possesses a full purpose.

As previously stated, Jon Watts has more than performed his due diligence with realizing a new Spider-Man film that not only extends the narrative of our titular hero and the MCU overall but it is so much greater and exceedingly more profound and moving that it had any right to being. The larger themes of guilt, redemption, fate, destiny, purpose, consequences and what it means to be a hero or a villain, and are those titles more malleable than given credit for are all played out in an intimate fashion with an epic backdrop. Watts has even allowed his film the even grander opportunity to re-contextualize the Sam Raimi trilogy as well as the two unfairly maligned films from Director Marc Webb--"The Amazing Spider-Man" (2012) and "The Amazing  Spider-Man 2" (2014). And still, with all of those conceptual spinning plates in the air, not even one of them falls to the ground for Watts' strict focus to the humanity of the story and characters made for a film that was surprisingly stirring and truthfully, I would even challenge Martin Scorsese himself to see if he could keep his eyes dry throughout.   

A melancholic heart exists at the core of the entirety of Marvel Comics as our heroes and villains all shoulder considerable psychological baggage and damage and Peter Parker is of no exception, especially so as he still is a teenager. Without delving into spoilers, a line from David Bowie's seminal, iconic song "Changes" echoed in my brain often as I watched "Spider-Man: No Way Home," and it is as follows: 

"So I turned myself to face me." 

The level of self-analysis seen within "Spider-Man: No Way Home" exists to an unprecedented degree for a Spider-Man movie and in doing so, it is one that I found to be supremely soulful. I can think of perhaps four sequences in the film when Watts dials the pyrotechnics way down and allows the words, characters and emotions rise honestly, patiently, carefully and richly...and for me, tears absolutely flowed. 

I have never seen Peter Parker as thoroughly as depicted here and Tom Holland reveals such grace, depth and vulnerability as he has never had to burrow as deeply in this role previously and he is equal to every moment given to him. By undergoing multi-levels of self exploration, so to speak, Peter Parker is ultimately led to achingly painful depths, losses and emerging more alone in the world than ever...which in turn makes for a riskier, most unpredictable future for the character and upcoming films.

We are really entering exciting times in the MCU based upon what has been released and revealed this year. Jon Watts' "Spider-Man: No Way Home" is the fulfillment of promises made and challenges met as it represents Marvel at their absolute finest. For it is not about the costumes, the special effects and the excited set pieces as well crafted as they are. At their best is when Marvel focuses upon the people inside the costumes and capes, underneath the masks, the ones who wield the shields, hammers and powers as they all wrestle with the responsibilities given, mistakes made, defeats endured and how to rise again. 

Jon Watts' "Spider-Man: No Way Home" rises exceedingly high.